2016 Spanish GP

F1 heads back to the Iberian Peninsula as they invade Spain for round 5 of the 2016 season. This will be the first race with a different compound choice. For Spain, teams can choose between Soft, Medium, and Hard tires. Before we get to the storylines, here are the championship updates. First, lets look at the drivers championship.

1st: Nico Rosberg - 100 Points
2nd: Lewis Hamilton - 57 Points
3rd: Kimi Raikkonen - 43 Points
4th: Daniel Riccardo - 36 Points
5th: Sebastian Vettel - 33 Points
6th: Felipe Massa - 32 Points
7th: Romain Grosjean - 22 Points
8th: Daniil Kvyat - 21 Points
9th: Valterri Bottas - 19 Points
10th: Max Verstappen - 13 Points
11th: Fernando Alonso - 8 Points
T-12th: Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenburg - 6 Points
14th: Carlos Sainz - 4 Points
15th: Sergio Perez - 2 Points
T-16th: Jenson Button and Stoffel Vandoorne - 1 Point

Next, here are the Constructors' Championship

1st: Mercedes - 157 Points
2nd: Ferrari - 76 Points
3rd: Red Bull - 57 Points
4th: Williams - 51 Points
5th: Haas - 22 Points
6th: Toro Rosso - 17 Points
7th: McLaren - 10 Points
8th: Force India - 8 Points
9th: Renault - 6 Points
Sauber and Manor have not scored points

Now, here are the storylines.

Who Can Stop Rosberg?

Rosberg's win streak is now at 7. If Rosberg wants to tie the record, he has to win Spain and Monaco. To break it, he would have to win in Canada. Rosberg is now only 1 of 4 drivers to win 7+ in a row. It seems as though Rosberg is unbeatable.

Ferrari: "Last Race was a Disappointment"

Ferrari's hopes of beating Mercedes is slowly dwindling. With Vettel being taken out by Kvyat, Ferrari is slowly losing patience. If Ferrari has something for Mercedes, they need to show something soon or the Constructors' Championship will become out of reach.

Kvyat vs. Vettel

For the second race in a row, Daniil Kvyat and Sebastian Vettel hit each other. Kvyat has been rumored out of Red Bull in favor of Verstappen at the the end of the season. If Kvyat wants to keep his ride, he will need to show a large amount of talent and improvement.

The Midfield

The midfield teams have been the most exciting part of the season to watch. No team has an advantage over the other it is has shown in the Constructors' Championship. Your guess is as good as mine as to how the midfield will decide the rest of the season.

Ericcson Having a Quiet Season

A driver who is having a quiet campaign in 2016 is Sauber's Marcus Ericcson. Marcus beat out teammate Nasr who had a new chassis and was able to keep 2 wounded Red Bulls behind him. Lets hope some teams are noticing what the Swede is doing so far in 2016.

Sauber to Miss Barcelona Test

Sauber announced today that they will not be in Barcelona for a testing session after the Spanish GP. Sauber cited 2 reasons why they will not be at the test. Reason 1 is that they will not be introducing a car update in Spain. Reason 2 is that they do not have a test driver that can fill the requirements of the testing session.

No other teams have announced their intentions about the test.

Verstappen and Kvyat Switching Seats?

A rumor has surfaced that Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat will be switching seats before the Spanish GP.

There could be some truth to this rumor. Red Bull manager Horner was disappointed with Kvyat's performance in Russia taking out Vettel.

We don't know how much truth there is to this rumor but it might be something to keep your eye on for entering Spain.

Wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, since Kvyat took Vettel out twice and aside from that he also damaged his teammate, so yeah, I would say bye bye Kvyat, Toro Rosso for you.

I figured Kvyat was getting some kind of punishment, 3 hits in 2 turns is pretty ehhh in most non-Nascar leagues and is especially looked down upon in F1.

Verstappen and Kvyat ride swap confirmed. The ride change will remain until the end of the season.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/36206848

Esteban Ocan to Practice/Test with Renault

For the second time in 2 races, Kevin Magnusson will be sharing seat time with his Renault. Last race, he shared his ride with Sirotkin. For Spain, he will share his ride in both FP1 and the 2 day test with Spanish driver Esteban Ocan.

Ocan is the defending GP3 champion who will make his DTM debut at Hockenheim. The last time he drove an F1 car was for Lotus at Abu Dhabi in 2014.

Ocon is French. Also worth noting he's the guy who won Euro F3 against Verstappen in 2014, and by quite a fair margin - though he did of course have the benefit of racing cars (as opposed to karts) prior to that year. Also also worth noting, he Matt Kenseth'd his way to the GP3 title with 1 win (in race 1), 10 2nd place finishes (including 9 in a row), 3 3rds, a 4th, a 6th, a 7th, and a DSQ in 18 races.

Here are the numbers for the Spanish GP.

45: This race will be the 45th race held in Spain. The race has been at Catalunya since 1991.

5: 5 drivers have won more the 1 race in Spain, Michael Schumacher (6), Mika Hakkinen (3), Nigel Mansell, Kimi Raikkonen, and Fernando Alonso (2).

343.8 km/h. Nico Hulkenburg holds the record for fastest speed in Spain, set last year.

7: In the last 10 races in Spain, 7 different countries have won the race. Spain (Alonso), Germany (Vettel and Rosberg), and Great Britain (Hamilton and Button) are the only repeats.

2: Only 2 drivers have won the first 5 races. This happened with Mansell in 1992 and with Michael Schumacher in 2004. Both were championship campaigns.

23: Of the 25 races in Catalunya, 23 have been won from the front row.

149: Alonso leads all active drivers in laps led in Spain.

F1 has the cheek to put Kyvat and Vestappen in the same press conference.

Spannerhead29 (Nelson) wrote:F1 has the cheek to put Kyvat and Vestappen in the same press conference.

Well obviously, the Kvyat-Verstappen swap was the biggest news story coming out of Russia.

Ferrari 1-2 after FP1, Verstappen's 6th, Magnusson hanging in 11th with the upgraded Renault

Holy crap a McClaren made Q3

Red Bull lockout on row 2, great qualifying by both drivers to really show Ferrari up today.

Wait, Mercedes didn't winqualifyinglol?

EDIT: Nope.

Hamilton Grabs Pole, Red Bull Row 2

Lewis Hamilton secured the pole position with a Q3 time of 1:22.000. There are a couple of surprises in qualifying. 1st, Red Bull outshined Ferrari with a lockout of row 2. 2nd, Carlos Sainz out qualified his new teammate Daniil Kvyat. 3rd, McLaren had Fernando Alonso in Q3. 4th and finally, Felipe Massa had a disastrous qualifying effort in 18th.

Row 1: Hamilton-Rosberg
Row 2: Riccardo-Verstappen
Row 3: Raikkonen-Vettel
Row 4: Bottas-Sainz
Row 5: Perez-Alonso
Row 6: Hulkenburg-Button
Row 7: Kvyat-Grosjean
Row 8: Magnussen-Gutierrez
Row 9: Palmer-Massa
Row 10: Ericcson-Nasr
Row 11: Wehrlein-Haryanto

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL MERCEDES

AND MERCEDES TAKE EACH OTHER OUT WOW.

Things you should never do. That.

Well so much for a 5:10 am bedtime.

Mercedes pulls a Red Bull!!! LMFAO!

Lap 22: Nico Hulkenburg out with a mechanical failure

YES YES YES!!! MAX VERSTEPPEN WINS!!!

Good job lad, you deserve it.

MAX VERSTAPPEN WINS!!!!!!!

Unbelievable. Incredible drive by Verstappen for his first win and proving Red Bull made the right decision!

Congrats Max!!!!

Of all the days I choose to sleep in!

Awesome race. Verstappen with a amazing run when the microscope was most on him, Mercedes crash will probably be the most hilarious moment of the racing season and just lots of fun racing.

Congrats to Max Verstappen! Red bulls switch has definitely paid off.

Honestly both Mercedes are to blame but Hamilton more so. That's was a very hopeless move.